1990 NSWRL season
The 1990 New South Wales Rugby League season was the eighty-third season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Sixteen clubs competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup during the premiership season, which culminated in a grand final between the previous season's premiers, the Canberra Raiders and the Penrith Panthers, who were making their grand final debut.
Season summary
For the 1990 season, the salary cap was introduced in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership. Twenty-two regular season rounds were played from March till August, resulting in a top six of Canberra, Brisbane, Penrith, Manly, Balmain and Newcastle.Parramatta's halfback Peter Sterling won the official player of the year award, the Rothmans Medal. The Dally M Medal was awarded to Manly's five-eighth Cliff Lyons. Rugby League Week gave their player of the year award to Canberra Raiders centre and captain, Mal Meninga.
Teams
The number of teams competing remained unchanged for the second consecutive year, with sixteen clubs contesting the premiership, including five Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, two from greater New South Wales, two from Queensland, and one from the Australian Capital Territory| Balmain Tigers 83rd season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Warren Ryan Captain: Wayne Pearce | Brisbane Broncos 3rd season Ground: Lang Park Coach: Wayne Bennett Captain: Gene Miles | Canberra Raiders 9th season Ground: Bruce Stadium Coach: Tim Sheens Captain: Mal Meninga | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 56th season Ground: Belmore Sports Ground Coach: Chris Anderson Captain: Terry Lamb |
| Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 24th season Ground: Endeavour Field Coach: Allan Fitzgibbon Captain: David Hatch | Eastern Suburbs Roosters 83rd season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Russell Fairfax→Hugh McGahan Captain: Hugh McGahan | Gold Coast Giants 3rd season Ground: Seagulls Stadium Coach: Bob McCarthy Captain: Billy Johnstone | Illawarra Steelers 9th season Ground: Wollongong Showground Coach: Ron Hilditch Captain: Chris Walsh |
| Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 44th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Graham Lowe Captain: Michael O'Connor | Newcastle Knights 3rd season Ground: Marathon Stadium Coach: Allan McMahon Captain: Sam Stewart | North Sydney Bears 83rd season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Steve Martin Captain: Tony Rea | Parramatta Eels 44th season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: Mick Cronin Captain: Peter Sterling |
| Penrith Panthers 24th season Ground: Penrith Stadium Coach: Phil Gould Captain: Royce Simmons | South Sydney Rabbitohs 83rd season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: George Piggins → Frank Curry Captain: Mario Fenech | St. George Dragons 70th season Ground: Kogarah Oval Coach: Craig Young Captain: Trevor Bailey | Western Suburbs Magpies 83rd season Ground: Orana Park Coach: John Bailey Captain: Ivan Henjak |
Advertising
1990 saw the NSWRL's advertising shift to a new level of sophistication, marking the first use of Tina Turner's 1989 hit "The Best". The league and its Sydney advertising agency Hertz Walpole struck gold in forging a link between the game and the song, which would become the soundtrack to a marketing success story that skyrocketed right up to a point of self-implosion in the Super League war of 1996-1997.Tina Turner's manager Roger Davies contacted agency chief Jim Walpole in 1989 to advise that Turner's upcoming album Foreign Affair was to contain a rendition of a Mike Chapman and Holly Knight song which might possibly be of interest to Walpole's NSWRL client. The track, which had been previously released by Bonnie Tyler with modest results, would prove to be one of Turner's most successful singles. After hearing demo tracks, Walpole and the NSWRL General Manager John Quayle and his marketing staff sensed the linkage could be perfect.
Turner was brought to Australia amid much public interest for a massive film shoot where enough footage was secured for advertisements for both the 1990 and 1991 seasons.
The finished 1990 advertisement, in its full two-minute version, tells the story of Turner's touchdown at Sydney Airport and a scurry through paparazzi; she then finds herself in a warehouse training scene that's more glamour than grit where players from a number of clubs are working out on weights and climbing vertical chains. She plays touch footy on a beach, attends a lunch where she cheekily surprises Gavin Miller, whom she had met at the 1989 UK shoot, and later arrives by helicopter to a black-tie dinner with Andrew Ettingshausen and Gene Miles. Throughout are the de rigueur big hits and action shots, with Turner cheering in a replica grand final crowd, and finally congratulating the 1989 premiership captain, Mal Meninga.
Ladder
South Sydney went from minor premiers in 1989 to wooden spooners in 1990, becoming the third club to suffer this ignominy after Canterbury from 1942 to 1943 and Western Suburbs from 1952 to 1953 – however, the Rabbitohs’ decline of sixteen and a half wins is easily the most severe in league history. It would mark the beginning of a 22-year barren wilderness for the Rabbitohs spanning 1990-2011, during which they would only record a solitary finals appearance in 2007. Canberra won their first and to date only minor premiership.| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | |
| 1 | Canberra Raiders | 22 | 16 | 1 | 5 | 532 | 245 | +287 | 33 |
| 2 | Brisbane Broncos | 22 | 16 | 1 | 5 | 478 | 278 | +200 | 33 |
| 3 | Penrith Panthers | 22 | 15 | 1 | 6 | 415 | 286 | +129 | 31 |
| 4 | Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | 22 | 15 | 0 | 7 | 395 | 255 | +125 | 30 |
| 5 | Balmain Tigers | 22 | 14 | 0 | 8 | 432 | 284 | +148 | 28 |
| 6 | Newcastle Knights | 22 | 13 | 2 | 7 | 344 | 305 | +39 | 28 |
| 7 | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 22 | 12 | 1 | 9 | 354 | 291 | +65 | 25 |
| 8 | Parramatta Eels | 22 | 12 | 1 | 9 | 387 | 347 | +40 | 25 |
| 9 | Illawarra Steelers | 22 | 11 | 1 | 10 | 366 | 361 | +5 | 23 |
| 10 | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 22 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 370 | 359 | +11 | 22 |
| 11 | North Sydney Bears | 22 | 10 | 0 | 12 | 322 | 298 | +24 | 20 |
| 12 | St. George Dragons | 22 | 8 | 0 | 14 | 371 | 399 | -28 | 16 |
| 13 | Western Suburbs Magpies | 22 | 6 | 1 | 15 | 323 | 433 | -110 | 13 |
| 14 | Eastern Suburbs Roosters | 22 | 6 | 1 | 15 | 283 | 547 | -264 | 13 |
| 15 | Gold Coast Chargers | 22 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 233 | 567 | -334 | 8 |
| 16 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 22 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 302 | 652 | -350 | 4 |
Finals
Balmain and Newcastle both finished on equal competition points in fifth position at the end of the regular season, so had to play off for the chance to advance through the finals.Chart
Grand Final
The 1990 season's grand final was played on the afternoon of Sunday, 23 September at the Sydney Football Stadium before a crowd of 41,535. Penrith were attempting to become the first team to win a grand final in their first attempt, but were coming up against an experienced Canberra team.| Canberra Raiders | Position | Penrith Panthers |
| Gary Belcher | FB | David Greene |
| Paul Martin | WG | Alan McIndoe |
| Mal Meninga | CE | Brad Fittler |
| Laurie Daley | CE | Col Bentley |
| John Ferguson | WG | Paul Smith |
| Chris O'Sullivan | FE | Brad Izzard |
| Ricky Stuart | HB | Greg Alexander |
| Brent Todd | PR | Paul Clarke |
| Steve Walters | HK | Royce Simmons |
| Glenn Lazarus | PR | Barry Walker |
| Nigel Gaffey | SR | Mark Geyer |
| Gary Coyne | SR | John Cartwright |
| Dean Lance | LK | Chris Mortimer |
| Matthew Wood | Bench | Steve Carter |
| Phil Carey | Bench | Joe Vitanza |
| Craig Bellamy | Bench | |
| David Barnhill | Bench | |
| Tim Sheens | Coach | Phil Gould |
Canberra's Ricky Stuart was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal as man of the match.
Canberra Raiders 18
Tries: Ferguson, Daley, Wood
Goals: Meninga 3/3
Penrith Panthers 14
Tries: Fittler, Smith, Alexander
Goals: Alexander 1/3
Player statistics
The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 22.Top 5 point scorers
| Points | Player | Tries | Goals | Field Goals |
| 184 | Mal Meninga | 15 | 62 | 0 |
| 132 | Ricky Walford | 14 | 38 | 0 |
| 130 | Dale Shearer | 10 | 45 | 0 |
| 128 | Greg Alexander | 9 | 46 | 0 |
| 126 | Ashley Gordon | 15 | 33 | 0 |
Top 5 try scorers
| Tries | Player |
| 15 | Mal Meninga |
| 15 | Willie Carne |
| 15 | Ashley Gordon |
| 14 | Ricky Walford |
| 13 | Gary Belcher |
| 13 | Alan McIndoe |
| 13 | Ewan McGrady |
| 13 | Andrew Ettingshausen |
Top 5 goal scorers
| Goals | Player |
| 62 | Mal Meninga |
| 47 | Terry Lamb |
| 46 | Greg Alexander |
| 46 | Rod Wishart |
| 45 | Dale Shearer |